According to a recent profile on Claire Danes in The New Yorker, it was down to Danes and ’90s golden girl Alicia Silverstone for the role of Angela Chase in the cult TV show “My So-Called Life.” Much as I adore Alicia as Cher Horowitz, she was not the right choice. Though executive producer Ed Zwick was on board with Silverstone, his partner Marshall Herskovitz said the following:

Alicia is so beautiful that that would have affected her experience of the world. People would have been telling her she was beautiful since she was six years old. You can’t put that face in what’s been written for this girl.

In The New Yorker profile, the “My So-Called Life” producers continued to wax poetic about Claire Danes’ now famous cry-face. Herskovitz recalls a specific scene, saying: “Her body starts to vibrate and tears come into her eyes. You realize that she’s having a physical experience that is beyond acting.”

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Comments Are Welcome, Bigots and Trolls Are Not

BiblioGlow

Dammit, 20 years later and I am still jealous of Alicia Silverstone's hair. $5 to anyone who can tell me what product will make hair golden and floaty and perfect. What is it? Virgin blood? Dolphin tears? The artistic sensitivity of a Hollywood executive mixed with a drop of Elizabeth McGovern's acting ability? WHAT?

Bodhi

Persoanlly, I think that Claire's looks & demeanor played a huge part in why folks (teenage girls) love(d) the so show much. She is far more relatable than some perfect blonde Cali girl.

My mom HATED me watching MSCL. She thought it gave me (and I quote) "ideas" and taught me to me hateful to my parents. Um, I was 13, it was going to happen anyway